Live Review: Eat Skull

Mighty Mighty, Wellington – 20 April, 2011

I turned up at Mighty Mighty last night for Eat Skull’s first show of their New Zealand tour only to find that the venue was split in two. I was prepared to pay the $15 but found instead that it was free to stand at the bar on the smelly side of the curtain; there were no bands playing anyway. Opening band Full Fuckn Moon was nowhere to be seen and the other band, Pumice, could not be bothered.

A jug and a half later I heard some sort of commotion going on (it was Full Fuckn Moon baby!). It wasn’t until I went to the urinal that I realised that these guys were really good; the bathroom walls were reverberating to the sound of FFM. So I paid my $15 and in I went hoping to find out more. Unfortunately (or more likely, fortunately) I only caught the last song of their set. In this short space of time I noticed wigs and a chain. The chain was amazing; at first I thought lead singer, Bek Coogan, just dropped it in time with music, but then she dropped it again & again; Brilliant! My friend then pointed out the wigs but I was mesmerized by the chain. The set finished all too soon. Mrs Moon confirmed they were wearing wigs. I noticed the drummer was wearing a mask

Conclusion: I should learn how to play the chain.

Pumice was up next. Not really a band but a one man sideshow. He reminded me of Son of Dave but was more like the son of Son of Dave. Kind of like Dave’s son’s son being electronic and screwing around like kids these days; whereas Dave senior is all about guitars, and shit, and music, and the blues, and a harmonica. Fuck the Crash Test Dummies anyway. Maybe Dave should give his son's son more time.

Conclusion: It sounded nothing like Son of Dave

Then came Eat Skull. The music was lo-fi. The clothes were garage. The setup was DIY; this was especially pertinent seeing as one dude was playing an ironing board. The contrasting plaid shirts; one was red, the other blue, laughed in the face of the grunge fad of the early nineties. This was garage as, baby! Instead they looked to Josh Tesh (Entertainment Tonight) and his wholly (holey) t-shirt. At least I appreciated it, especially when an empty keg was kicked through the crowd. Rock!

Conclusion: Who cares what you sound like as long as you’re energetic.